GOLDSTEIN THE PATSY?
by Barry Chamish
Response to my recent article indicating that the Hebron massacrer Baruch Goldstein was just another in a long line of innocent peace process patsies was confusing. The greatest criticism came from the far Right, which for irrational reasons wants to preserve the image of Goldstein as a mass murderer and saint. They claimed that I and Israeli researcher Avraham Yosef got our facts wrong, without pointing to one error other than Yosef's mixup about Goldstein's height.
So, hoping to put an end to the accusations, I turned to by Jerusalem Post archives on CD-Rom to discover the facts as reported to the media. I am certain readers will find the results eye-opening. Among the many articles that appeared are those offering fascinating insights into the diplomacy that followed the massacre, which resulted in Hebron being put on the Oslo chopping block and foreign troops inserted into the city. This, along with security issues are beyond the scope of this article but are covered in depth in my new Feral House book, Who Murdered Yitzhak Rabin (<cult@feralhouse.com>) and in a full-length video by the same name (<robalini@aol.com>).
Instead, I concentrate on the evidence and testimony collected by the police and the Shamgar Commission of Inquiry into the Hebron Massacre as reported in the Post. After reading the reports, let the reader decide if this really was a straightforward case of mass murder by a lone gunman.
The massacre occurred on Feb. 25/94, the Press reports begin two days later and end with the Shamgar Commission findings in June of that year. I begin with the Post's coverage and add my comments beginning and ending with three stars ***.
Feb.27- Goldstein Called Wonderful Doctor
Yechiel Leiter of the Council of Jewish Communities...said, "I don't think you know what anyone is capable of but he did not fit into the high-risk category."
The IDF said 54 Palestinians were killed in the shooting at the tomb and the ensuing disturbances in Hebron. Thirty-nine of them were killed when Dr. Baruch Goldstein entered the tomb early Friday morning and fired nearly 100 bullets from his Galil rifle into a group of Palestinian worshipers...Preliminary findings indicate that Goldstein arrived at the site around 5:45 PM, Friday, equipped with a pistol and a Galil assault rifle with five loaded magazines. Cartridges found on the floor of the prayer hall indicate that some 95 bullets were fired from Goldstein's gun...Several Palestinians inside the mosque at the time of the massacre said that from what they saw, Goldstein was not working alone. They said that after he finished each cartridge, he was handed another by a "settler", who later fled. The witnesses also allege several settlers stood at one of the entrances to the mosque and prevented soldiers from entering when the shooting began.
"The first thing I heard was bombs going off," said Adlay Jabari, 14. "Then I heard a machine gun."
Dr. Daoud Obeidi, director of the Aghli Hospital in Hebron, said from the shrapnel wounds suffered by some, it appeared hand grenades were used in the attack.
However, the Arab witnesses told a very different story right after the event. They heard explosions and suffered shrapnel wounds. Shamgar later concluded that Goldstein carried no grenades and the explosions were really just noise from the mosque speaker system.
And they insist Goldstein was not alone in the prayer hall. He had accomplices handing him bullet magazines when his ran out and entrapping the worshipers inside. Further, the shooting lasted two to three times longer than Shamgar later found. Avraham Yosef makes a strong point: The Arab worshipers did not know Goldstein personally or by sight and only used his name because the Jewish authorities blamed him for the crime.***
Feb.28- IDF Satisfied With Measures Against Kach
Apparently, a second lieutenant on shift in the Machpela Cave called the Border Police at around 5:15 AM Friday and complained that two policemen due to arrive to reinforce his three-man contingent had failed to show up.
March 4- Rabin To Testify Behind Closed Doors
Baruch Segal, a police ballistics expert, told the commission he had collected all the objects left behind in the cave after they had been filmed. Another expert, Lior Nedivi, said ballistic tests confirmed that 109 cartridges had come from Goldstein's Glilon (small Galil) rifle and five from the guns of two of the soldiers stationed there. One cartridge was unidentified, he said...
Dr. Mahmud Abu Ramile, director of the private Al-Hl'alie Hospital in Hebron said, "Soldiers on the rooftops with telescopes picked out people in the courtyard and started shooting them."
One might try to find an explanation for the cartridge; perhaps a worshiper was armed. If so, why didn't he shoot Goldstein? Maybe it just happened to be lying on the floor from the day before. So why wasn't a shot from the prayer hall reported then? The cold fact is, this cartridge, in fact all three, prove that in all likelihood Goldstein was not the only shooter in the mosque. ***
March 10- Wakf Officials Asked To Testify Before
Shamgar Commission
Wakf officials yesterday requested an invitation to testify before the commission of inquiry into the Hebron massacre..."We want to bring the truth to light for the sake of both peoples," said Sheikh Sallah Natsha. "The Wakf officials are the true witnesses...they are the guards who were present at the event."
March 11- Border Police Officer Testifies
Supt. Uri Reiskop, who was acting commander of the Hebron police station also had trouble explaining why the policemen had failed to show up in the morning of the massacre. He initially said the men had been sent to investigate a shooting near Kiryat Arba.
March 17- Wakf Officials Boycott Massacre Inquiry
"We decided to boycott the inquiry commission because the Israelis cannot be both the enemy and the judge," said Hassan Tahboub, who heads the Islamic High Commmittee. The Palestinian committee said yesterday it believes soldiers played a role in the deaths at the mosque, despite testimony to the contrary by Israeli officers.
March 18- Soldiers' Testimony Conflict In Inquiry
In response to questions from commission members, Yosef and Drori both said that one person had entered with a Glilon that morning - a settler they didn't recognize who arrived shortly after Goldstein. The arrival of a settler they didn't recognize was unusual, the two said, since they knew all the regulars at the early prayer service.
Rotem also said Goldstein entered the cave at about 5:20: the other three put the time around 4:45...Commission member Judge Ahmed Zuabi commented if Rotem's assertion that Goldstein could not have used the main entrance without seeing him is true, it raises the possibility that Goldstein had assistance. One of the other entrances into the Yitzhak Hall is from Avraham Hall...Since this door was bolted from the Jewish side after the massacre, Zuabi noted, if Goldstein used this entrance, someone must have bolted it behind him.
Judge Zuaabi has finally awoken and publicly expressed his belief that a conspiracy was possible. Rotem testified that Goldstein did not pass by his post and enter the prayer hall through the main entrance. That leaves two other doors but only one on the Jewish side of the Cave wHere Goldstein was free to roam. Since it was found bolted from the Jewish side after the massacre, if Goldstein entered through it, someone else locked him into the prayer hall afterward. ***
March 21 - Goldstein Carried Glilon Into Machpela Cave
*** Somebody's lying. Either the three soldiers or Rotem and Unger. Goldstein could not have arrived at the Cave at two separate times carrying two different weapons. The three soldiers had no obvious reason to lie, (unless they were not actually at their posts, in which case court martial proceedings should have been initiated against them) while Unger was letting the authorities off the hook.ý There is no possible way the three soldiers could have been so mistaken about the details. And since their testimony was later rejected by Shamgar, why weren't they tried and imprisoned for giving perjured testimony to an official investigation? If perjury was going on, it was from the IDF as you will dramatically see in the next article. ***Baruch Goldstein was almost certainly carrying a Glilon rifle the morning of the Hebron massacre, settlers told the commission of inquiry. Motti Unger, who gave Goldstein a ride to the cave that morning, said he was almost certain Goldstein was carrying a Glilon. Unger said he dropped Goldstein at the cave around 5:20 AM. This contradicts the three soldiers mentioned above. Unger said Goldstein seemed completely normal that morning.
March 30 - Police Have Different Open-Fire Orders
Goldstein's wife, meanwhile was trying to reach her husband. Shortly after 5 AM she called Shlomo Edelstein, who was on reserve duty at the telecommunications center. Edelstein, swinging nervously on his swivel chair, told the commission he had spoken to Goldstein and told Ungar to pick him up. A short while later, Miriam Goldstein called, asking if he could help track down her husband.
"I told her he was at the clinic and tried calling him on the communications network. I asked her if everything was fine and she said it was." But he admitted that later he had told her Goldstein might be at the Cave praying. Miriam said her husband "did not go there to pray."
Members of the commission had a surprise for Edelstein. According to records of the calls to the center, obtained from the phone company, Miriam Goldstein had called him twice. "If she did, I don't remember," an uncomfortable Edelstein said.
April 4 - Wakf Guards: Goldstein Entered Yitzhak Hall Alone
June 26 - Shamgar Commission To ReLease Findings Today
The commission also rejected Arab testimony that a grenade had been thrown, since no fragments were found in the hall... In the course of this testimony, glaring operational faults by the security forces were revealed. For instance, five of six members of the security forces who were supposed to be in the Cave the morning of the massacre were absent.
And he made no attempt to tie up embarassing loose ends. There is no explanation offered for the three cartridges found in the prayer hall, the missing second phone call from Miriam Goldstein to Shlomo Edelstein, or all the missing soldiers at the Cave.
The Shamgar Commission was not seeking the truth about the Hebron massacre. Though one fellow judge publicly expressed his feeling that Goldstein was not alone, Meir Shamgar defied all issues of legal logic and thoroughness to make certain that history recorded Baruch Goldstein as the lone perpetrator of the Hebron massacre. ***
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